ENVS 102.2 - Sustainability Quiz

Course Information

• Course Title: ENVS 102.2 - Sustainability and Human-Environment Relations
• Instructor: Dr. Issam Migdadi
• University: American University of Ras Al Khaimah
• Textbook: Living in the Environment (G. Tyler Miller, Scott E. Spoolman)

Definitions

• Environment: Everything around you, including living things (plants and animals) and nonliving things (air, water, soil, sunlight) that you interact with.
• Environmental Science: A study of connections in nature, focusing on how the Earth works, human interaction with the environment, and sustainable living. It seeks to answer questions about environmental problems, their seriousness, interactions, causes, solutions, and how nature has tackled similar issues.
• Ecology: A branch of biology focusing on how organisms interact with their living and nonliving environment.
• Ecosystem: A set of organisms in a defined area (land or water) that interact with each other and their nonliving environment. This includes organisms, interactions, solar energy, and the environment's chemicals (air, water, soil).
• Biodiversity: The variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes. Short for biological diversity.

Planet's Life Support System

• Water: Earth is the only planet in our solar system with liquid water. Water is vital for almost all biological processes. Ocean pH has decreased from 8.16 to 8.05 since the industrial revolution (equivalent to a 30% increase in [H+]).
• Atmosphere: The ozone and stratosphere protect Earth from harmful short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation. Water and other elements like carbon are recycled in the atmosphere. Space debris burns up in the mesosphere.
• Magnetic Field: Earth's magnetic field protects it from charged solar radiation particles, which would otherwise harm or kill living organisms.
• Distance from the Sun: Earth's distance from the Sun allows for enough sunlight to support life without being too distant and frozen.
• Earth's Neighbors (Jupiter): Jupiter's gravity helps protect Earth by attracting meteor rocks.

Six Principles of Sustainability

• Dependence on Solar Energy: The sun's energy warms the planet and provides energy for plants to produce nutrients, essential for all life.
• Biodiversity: Variey of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes provide vital ecosystem services and allow species to adapt to changes.
• Chemical Cycling: The circulation of chemicals, like nutrients, from the environment through organisms and back to the environment. The earth constantly receives energy from the sun, but does not receive new life-supporting chemical supplies.

Economics, Politics, and Ethics

• Full-cost pricing: Market prices should reflect the environmental and health costs.
• Win-win solutions: Plans that benefit both people and the environment are vital.
• Responsibility to future generations: Environmental ethicists recommend leaving the planet's life-support systems in at least as good a state as when we found them. This means considering future generations' needs.

Ecological Footprint

• Humans: Humans have the power to sustain, add to, or degrade Earth's natural capital (natural resources and ecosystem services).
• Ecological Footprints: As footprints grow, we deplete and degrade more of the earth's natural capital that sustains life on Earth.
• Natural Capital: The combination or natural resources and environmental services.
• Renewable Resources: Resources that can be replenished within hours to centuries by natural processes as long as use is not faster than the replenishment rate.
• Inexhaustible Resources: Resources that are replenished constantly (example: solar energy).
• Nonrenewable Resources: Resources that are not replaced as quickly as they are used (example: fossil fuels).

Additional Information

• Useful videos: Links are provided to National Geographic, Earth Systems, and the Four Earth Systems videos.
• Knowledge Check: A question is asked about inexhaustible resources.